Driven by lust and greed, a man and woman struggle to recover love in the Shadow of the Serpent.

Reporter, Kinsey Waters' past haunts her. A bad break-up has made the last ten years a blur of nameless lovers and has forced her to deal with the loneliness of emotional solitude. When the newspaper wants an article on her now wealthy ex-fiance, she feels she has an inside track on getting a story from the elusive billionaire mogul. While it would assist her move up in her journalistic career, she believes confronting Ty might also help her get over her love-hate memories of him.

Ten years ago, Ty Serpent made a pact with the devil—wealth in exchange for his soul. He gave up the only woman he loved in the hopes he'd one day return to her and make everything right. Only Satan didn't play fair, and Ty soon discovered there was no going back.

When Ty meets up with Kinsey again, he knows it's not by chance. His faith in love, long shattered, brings on the real fear that nothing can save them from the pits of hell.

Julian’s hot for his friend’s
sister, Tabitha, and the feeling is mutual. One dinner and they’re ready to
jump each other. Only Julian’s a bit more reserved when it comes to where he
wants to have sex with the vixen making all the moves. An old-fashioned fellow,
especially in relationships, he’s more than surprised when Tabitha wants to
take him dogging— a trend that involves a group of people having public sex.

Tabitha’s been hurt by love, and
sexy Julian looks to be the cure for her wounded soul, but the temporary fix
she wants gets out of hand when his emotions, and hers, begin to join. Running
from his sappy sentiments seems a good choice, until Julian displays his
heroics in protecting her against an old boyfriend. Then what’s a girl to do to
avoid commitment? Especially when she prefers dogging, and to Julian, more than
two is a crowd.

Julian Devlet took a quick look at the steamy
windows of the car sitting along the curb in the park. He noted the movement in
the backseat. There was no guessing at what was going on by the way the car
rocked. He’d spent a time or two in his teenage years doing the same thing,
except he kept it private—in out of the way places, not in the public’s line of
sight.

Shaking his head, he sped up, hoping the
shortcut kept him from being late for a dinner engagement. According to his
watch, he hit the parking lot on time. He got out, shut the car door and leaned
to look at his reflection in the side-view mirror. Flicking several locks of
hair back, he ran his fingers through them, combing the strays into place. The
romantic couple behind the foggy glass brought back memories of some good
times. He still had the looks after ten years, just not the ambition to have
sex while straddling a girl and a stick shift.

Julian walked toward the entrance of the
upscale restaurant. All evening, getting showered and dressed made him nervous.
This was a night unlike others. He made a decent living, but bills always
managed to suck the cash from his grasp. Extracting his wallet, he checked the
contents. If the money wasn’t enough, there was always the credit card.

He went through the door and stopped in front
of the hostess.

“Can I help you?” She smiled.

“I’m here to meet Derek Sutton.”

“Right this way, sir.”

He followed the woman, looking beyond her to
see what his co-worker, Derek Sutton’s sister looked like. Derek said this was
just a casual thing, but he sensed a set up.

Julian stopped next to the table.

“Hey. There you are.” Derek jumped up. “I was
wondering if you might have changed your mind.”

Julian glanced at Derek’s sister. Her
expression didn’t give him a clue as to what her first thoughts were at seeing him.
He felt he was attractive, and he certainly had the body. However, who knew
what a woman wanted? He’d seen guys not up to par in the looks department date
some beautiful ladies.

“Tabitha, this is Julian.” Derek made the
brief introduction to his sister, while waving at a waiter to come to their
table.

“Hello, Tabitha.” Julian took the hand she
offered, giving it a firm, yet gentle shake. After letting go, he eased into
the seat next to her.

She flashed him a warm, breathtaking smile.
Her “hi” was an enchanting sound. The radiant glow in her green eyes gripped
his attention.

Never having met any of Derek’s family in the
short time since they’d become friends, he had no idea how beautiful Tabitha
was going to be when he agreed to the dinner. While he had considered declining
Derek’s offer of a meal and good conversation, Julian was happy he chose to
accept.

When Tabitha glanced down at the menu that
she opened, it left Julian helplessly gawking. While he never had trouble
getting a date, girls like her, the prettier, the bossier were out of his range
of interest. He preferred a less complicated life.

“What would you folks like to drink?” the
waiter asked.

“I’ll have iced tea,” Derek announced.

Tabitha glanced at Julian and licked her
lips. “I’ll have the same. I need something tasty and wet on this scorching hot
night.”

His raspy voice cracked. Tabitha laughed—not
a harsh, insulting sort of a sound, but rather a nervous giggle. He didn’t
believe for a minute she was apprehensive about meeting him. There had to be
something else she found amusing.

The waiter left before Julian realized what
he ordered. He didn’t like tea. Something in Tabitha’s green-eyed gaze had
turned his brain to mush, especially when her tongue made a pass across her top
lip. He would have ordered a beer. But watching her lick her lip led him to imagining
dragging his tongue over any part of Tabitha’s svelte body. It gave him a mega
hard-on and he shifted on his chair to readjust the pressure of his balls in
the tight fitting jeans.

Stealing another glance, he found her looking
his way. He smiled, she smiled. Then she wet her bottom lip this time, and
pulled it between her teeth. The movement was driving him crazy.

Tabitha resumed studying the menu. She had
his full attention, and she knew it, so he scrutinized every detail of her
features. Not a blemish marked her oval face. She had a perfect nose, gorgeous
blue eyes and a mouth he couldn’t stop staring at or fantasizing about.

When her pink tongue peeked out from between
her parted lips, his whole body heated another notch. She swished it around the
rim of her mouth as if she were thirsty, forcing him to reach down and adjust
the crotch of his jeans. She looked toward his movement.

Brazen was a lightweight word to describe
Tabitha. While she made him nervous, a bit out of his league, it didn’t stop
his cock from jolting against the constraints of his pants. His mind took
another deviant turn. If Tabitha were as agreeable as she obviously appeared to
be, he’d be delighted to give her something to drink.

The waiter set a glass in front of him. He
ignored the man, not wanting to miss a moment of checking out Tabitha. Initial meetings
were all about first impressions. However, they were also very revealing about a
person’s character. Minutes into the casual dinner with a friend, he already
liked Tabitha’s personality and began hoping he was being set up on a
date with her.

She lifted an ice cube from her glass and
rubbed it up and down her neck beneath her chin. “It’s so hot tonight,” she
murmured. “Are you hot, Julian?”

Was he nodding too fast? And was it wrong to
find her brazenness in front of her brother outrageously sexy?

“Hey.” Derek nudged him. “What do want to
eat?”

Your sister’s pussy. Not paying
attention, he didn’t know if he voiced the thought aloud. His gaze flew to
Derek’s face for a reaction. His friend didn’t bat an eye.

Julian took a deep breath, relaxing from the
narrow escape of having his nose punched in.
Sometimes, he had the best
fantasies at the worst times. With Derek as a third wheel he didn’t expect he
had to watch what he said and what he did.

“Oh, leave him alone, Derek. Maybe he needs
more time to decide what he really wants to eat.”
Tabitha leaned toward
Julian.

Without thought, he looked down into her
blouse at the soft swells of the firm breasts she wet with her ice cube.

“Then I’ll give you a few minutes.” The
waiter’s annoyed grunt faded as he walked away.

Julian lifted his eyes and watched Tabitha’s
emerald irises twinkle brighter. She came closer. Had she read his mind? Were
her words as suggestive as they sounded? Did she want him as much as he lusted
for her?

Probably not.

She tapped the menu on the table in front of
him. “It might help if you open this up, Julian.”

He loved the sound of his name caressed by
her voice. Picking up the menu, he selected the first thing he saw. Food was
not as appetizing as the idea of licking every inch of Tabitha’s pussy, lapping
up the sweet cream he’d force to spill from between her thighs. Given half a
chance, he’d savor every drop.

“All decided?” She batted her long lashes in
that flirty way girls thought they had to do to get a guy’s attention.

She had him captivated. “Uh-huh,” he
answered, the sound stuck partway.

“Good. There’s this club I belong to and I
don’t want to be late.” She scooted her chair closer to him and put a hand on
his thigh. “You’d like to go, wouldn’t you?”

Surprised by her forward move, he started his
reply with a nod.

Her foot slid along the outside of his leg
and stroked several times, making no mistake about her provocative actions up
to that point.

“Sure.” He lifted a brow at Derek’s burst of
laughter. “What? I like going to clubs.”

“Tell me, Julian.” Tabitha’s hand rubbed
dangerously close to the bulge his cock made in the pant leg she continued to
run her fingers along. “You do like sex, don’t you?”

Millions of nerves tingled throughout his
tense body. “Um, yeah, sure.” What kind of question was that? Was she
serious? He actually waited for Derek to laugh hysterically.

“Then it’s settled.” Tabitha patted his leg
and took her hand away.

He hated to see it go, but it was a good
thing. At any moment, he was going to have an orgasm, and once started, there
was no chance of retreating from the explosion. Not many women made him hot
enough to cum in his pants.

Derek never expressed a “gotcha”, so Julian
had to assume Tabitha was on the up and up. Before he could ask questions about
the club, the waiter returned with a basket of buttered rolls. He took their
order for food and disappeared again.

“Mmmm, I love warm things in my mouth.”
Tabitha gave Julian a wink and smile.

She picked up a roll and took a large bite.
The melted butter shined her lips and she made that whisking movement again
with her tongue over them. Julian watched her lick them clean. He shuddered,
imagining the tip swabbing the sensitive spot under the head of his cock.

“This is so good.” She tilted toward him and
held the roll to his mouth. “Try it.”

He chomped into the bread without looking and
nearly took off her finger.

She jerked her hand back. “Easy boy, we’ll
get you some real food.”

She pushed the bread toward his mouth. He
tried taking a small nibble. However, Tabitha shoved the whole thing in. Before
he had the chance to chew, she rubbed his lips with her fingertips, wiping away
the butter. Her touch lingered, gently moving as if she were an artist painting
his lips.

He almost groaned when she pulled her hand
away. Then she poked her finger into her own mouth.
The exaggerated sucking
sound she made pushed him toward choking when he tried swallowing the lump of
bread.

Damn, she’s sexy. He gulped the food
down.

Throughout dinner, Julian watched her. He
tried to act as if he didn’t, and he appreciated the way she pretended not to
catch him. But there was no way to resist her. Everything she did during the
meal made him relate it to a sexual act. In some ways, he felt like a letch, a
perv, a damn silly moron.
When had his cool nature vanished? Had the geek in
him finally emerged? Tabitha was making him a blithering idiot.

Derek did most of the talking, which was
good. Anxious like an alley cat hunting for a mate,
Tabitha’s teasing rub of
Julian’s leg rendered him mute. Several times throughout dinner, she rested her
hand on his thigh, raking the talons of her nails in a teasing closeness to his
poor tortured cock.

He tried imaging what kind of club she
planned to take him to where she needed to know if he liked sex. When the word bondage
came up in the conversation between Derek and his sister, Julian gagged on the
piece of steak he gulped down too fast. His eyes went wide and he stared at his
plate.
He could deal with kink, but who would be the one tied up?

“Are you all right?” Tabitha stood and patted
him on the back.

“Fine,” he wheezed.

“Here, take a drink.” She picked up his glass
and held it to his lips.

The tea burned going down, and he strained to
squelch the start of another fit of coughing. Tabitha’s concern really marked
the dinner with a special moment. Beautiful, friendly, and not self-centered as
he thought—she was worth getting to know. Losing his cool wasn’t putting forth
what he wanted her to think of him.

“Sit down,” he wheezed hoarsely. “It was just
a piece of meat going down the wrong way.”